Sean Milliken, a man who weighed 900 lbs. when he appeared on Season 4 of My 600-Lb. Life, has died, first reported by Radar Online. Sean was admitted into the hospital on Feb. 17 “because of an infection,” his father, Matt Milliken, wrote in a Facebook post, according to Radar. “Sunday he was having problems with his breathing, they were able to resuscitate him and a short time later his heart stopped.” Sean’s devastate father, when relaying the news of his son’s passing to all their fans, described Sean as a “good man.”
Sean, according to Radar Online, was living in Texas in an apartment by himself prior to his death. His friend, Ashley Boone, told Radar that he would be remembered as a “special” guy. “He was definitely a loner and kept to himself but once you knew him he opened up and showed his witty side,” Ashley told Radar. “He was extremely funny, artistic and kind.”
Sean appeared on Season 4 of the TLC reality television series in 2016. He weighed in at 900 lbs., supposedly making him the heaviest person featured on the program. He and his mother, Renee, moved to Houston in hopes that he would qualify for weight loss surgery, according to People. “I’m not 100 percent certain this is the right decision to make,” Sean said in a clip from the show at the time. “I am extremely nervous about this trip. It’s going to take anywhere from 30 to 40 hours to drive there. I’m very worried about that. If I fall, we won’t be near the hospital for people to pick me up.”
He explained that he started his weight gain because of the rough relationship with his father. “It was scary. So I would eat. And suddenly I felt a lot better,” he said. “In that moment, nothing else mattered. … I felt like it was my fault, I felt like my family had fallen apart because of me. So I kept going to food to deal with those feelings. I would get out of school and my mom would be at work, so I would just come home and go straight to the fridge. I’d eat everything and anything I could get my hands on. I started gaining probably 50 lbs. a year, and by the time I was in high school I was over 400 lbs.”
Our thoughts are with Sean’s family and friends during this heartbreaking time of loss.
HollywoodLife.com has reached out to TLC for a statement and will update this post with any further information.